


In Search of the Hall of Wires

by The_Whistler



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Fan Art, Gen, Walter Manor, fan fiction, the hall of wires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-20 02:57:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Whistler/pseuds/The_Whistler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A visit to Walter Manor for a little research... need a good look at something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Search of the Hall of Wires

**Author's Note:**

> I’m doing something a little bit different here. If you don’t want the back story, skip down to the part where I brain-walk through Walter Manor, looking for a certain room… that’s more of a story there. I meet a few robots on the way. Where the heck are all the people?
> 
> So… Last night, I was up until an unholy hour (4. Did you know that was unholy? ;D) working on the first, yes, after how long? Two, three months since I got the idea? The FIRST of my SPG dragons. And while I have already begun to looking at him and say, “Why didn’t I have him striking an epic pose on a big hunk of twisted metal while biting a news chopper right out of the air?" well, I just didn’t. He’s standing in the Hall of Wires with his snout being caressed by a pretty girl in white. Also a desirable activity for an epic titanium monster.
> 
> And he’s nearly done, in the process serving a dual purpose… first, so that I have a piece of fan art to post… yeah, my inner nerd has been craving this… and in helping me to learn how to make said art using my humble graphics tablet and Photoshop.
> 
> Bunny Bennett and the various incredibly talented fans of SPG are responsible… after I got a good look at what was on Deviantart. I had that tablet since Christmas and was letting my first-grader use it! And it had DIED! Now I was suddenly aware of what I could do if I quit being a weenie, sent it in for a replacement, and got to work. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Stupid human! And here I remember over 20 years ago thinking, “Wow, it’d be so cool if they came up with a better way to draw in Paintshop, I can’t do anything with this mouse."
> 
> So here’s where I am…. I’m looking for my background.
> 
> I’ve gotten pretty good at this thing and I figured out how to put my pretty beast on a background. So he and his Walter Girl are floating on a happy lil checkerboard while I ask myself, “How would I render the Hall?" I could be cheap and just copy what Bunny did in the comic. That will surely be an influence. But… before all this, I was already an artist, after all. I did have a personal artistic style. It had a lot of swirlies.
> 
> Is there room in the Hall for yet more swirlies? Hm…
> 
>  
> 
> Well. I’d better go take a look.

"Hello?"

I stick my head in through the open door… well, there IS no door… and look around. Just like the comic, I think. Who knew?

I walk into the dimness and through to another room. Round rug, table, empty bowl… roller coaster? Oh, right…

And a red chair.

"Aw spite!" I cry, running for it as I’m seized with a horrible urge to have a nice sit in the Comfy Chair… yet no matter how fast I run, the chair is right behind me, waiting.

I bolt through a doorway as a copper hand snakes out. I sprint past and dare a look over my shoulder. The hand has neatly snatched the chair off my trail. I pause and see an unwieldy robotic face leering at me. Then the jaw drops and flames pour out, engulfing the chair.

I’m torn. I would rather like to give Rabbit a hug, says one part of my brain. Another part, still in full panic mode, says there’s a metal man burning a chair in the hallway, RUN!

I run. One last look shows me one copper hand waving bye-bye as I flee.

I run upstairs. And more stairs. And MORE stairs. The stairs end at a long hall with a skylight.

I fall on my face, panting, my lungs on fire. Get up, stupid, You need to walk it off… But I lay there, gulping air and hoping the smoke from the fire doesn’t rise this high.

Why did I come here again?

I close my eyes for a moment and hear a clip-clop of hooves. Hooves? Something is near my face… softly humming. I keep my eyes shut. The clip-clop turns and runs away, by the sound of it.

A high, sweet voice cries, “Hatchy! Come and see!"

The hooves return with the sound of a measured step. I suddenly smell bread and pickles. Something crumbly presses against my lips.

"It’s no good, G.G. She is not responding. I think she is dead."

"She climbed all those stairs," replies G.G. (anyone else want to pronounce that Gigi?) “Maybe a sandwich isn’t the best way to wake her up."

"Should I give her a kissy-kiss? It works in the movies."

I feel much better all of a sudden. I sit up.

"Hello," says G.G. sweetly, looking at me through her eyelashes.

Awww…

"Hi there… Um, could I possible get a drink of water?"

G.G. inclines her whole neck and head and clip-clops away.

"How do you do, I am Hatchworth. What are you doing on our floor?"

I fight the urge to tell him I’m a flooring inspector and say, “I’m looking for the Hall of Wires."

"Oh, no. No. No no no. Nyet. Nein. Non."

"There a problem?"

"The Hall of Wires is where The Spine is. You are not supposed to be there. He will be angry."

"Aw come on, he’s so reserved… how angry can he get?"

Hatchworth flinches as if remembering. I figure this doesn’t bode well.

G.G. toddles up carefully with a glass of water balanced on her head. I praise her for her cleverness and scoop up the glass before it falls from her humbly inclined little head.

"She wants to go to the Hall of Wires, G.G.!" cries Hatchworth, his voice trembling.

"M’kay!"

"Have you blown a circuit, little girl?" asks Hatchworth,

"Did someone mention blown c-c-circuits?"

"Rabbit! Talk sense into them!"

It gets very quiet. G.G. shakes her head.

"Sooo…" Rabbit says, stumping up the last few stairs. “I save ya from the D-D-Demon Chair and ya don’t even say th-th-thank you…"

"Um…, thank you, Rabbit. You saved me from the Demon Chair."

"Dang skippy." He folds his arms in satisfaction. “And I’d d-do it again. In fact, I’ll have to, and I will, in a heartbeat, ‘cause th-TH-that’s how I roll."

No one knows what to say to this. Rabbit stares at me.

"Any particular reason yer on tha floor?"

Flooring inspector. I shake my head.

"I was tired. Could you help me up?"

Before he can move, G.G. leans down and nuzzles her head under my arm, helping as I get to my feet.

"I was gonna do it, Gigi!" complains Rabbit. (hey whaddya know…)

"Too slow! Too slow!"

"We’ll see who’s too slow when yer four legs are tied together!"

G.G. capers around the hallway, chortling. I’m wondering again why I came here, but for a different reason… I’ve actually forgotten.

"She wants to go into the Hall of Wires, Rabbit!" cries Hatchworth, unable to contain himself any longer.

Oh, right…

"M’kay."

"What in the name of Monte Cristo is the matter with you people?" cries Hatchworth.

"Oh, good one, Hatchy. Well, let’s go."

Rabbit grabs me by the arm and starts hustling me down the hallway. I have to run on tiptoe because he’s striding and seems to think everyone is the same height he is, so that he is holding my arm a good five inches higher than it ought to be. (now you know how tall I am, ain’t ya lucky?)

"Rabbit!" wails Hatchworth. As I look back, Hatchworth bolts down the staircase. G.G. shrugs her whole body and trots into another room.

I hear, or think I hear, a faint electrical noise, like an old tv. Rabbit stops at last and throws open a door. Red light floods out.

"There ya go! Did ya want to go in, too?"

By this time, Hatchy’s terror has begun to get the better of me. I figure I’ll just stick my head in and get a good look. I lean around the door frame and scream, falling back against Rabbit as a face, just a face, appears above my head the same second.

"Rabbit! Invitation only!" it roars. The door slams shut.

I dangle from Rabbit’s hands, which popped up to catch me as I fell. He is now holding me up the way a kid holds a puppy. I try to talk myself out of a heart attack, and tip my head back to look at Rabbit. He’s staring straight at the door as if waiting for something, still patiently and easily supporting my weight.

I disengage myself from the copper hands, suddenly knowing what it must feel like to hang on a coat rack.The door to the Hall opens and The Spine, fully assembled and sporting a puzzled expression, stares down at us. I look up with wide eyes, wondering if I should run.

"How do you do?" he says cordially.

"Do what? Oh! Hello, glad to meet you…"

"I apologize, I didn’t realize we had company."

"She ain’t company, Spine. She just sailed on in. Y-Y-You want I should throw her out?"

You dirty traitor…

"Cut it out, Rabbit. What brings you here, Miss?"

"I-I-I-I… I sound like Rabbit! Ha!" I say, a little hysterically.

"Hey!"

"Please, don’t be afraid. No one’s going to hurt you." He glares at Rabbit, who shrugs and acts sheepish.

"I’m working on an art project…" I stammer. “I need to see the Hall of Wires."

"I see. Well, there are certain restrictions to using images of Walter Manor in commercial art…"

"Oh, no, it isn’t commercial art. It’s…" I feel my face grow red. “It’s fan art…"

"Yer m-m-makin’ art out of a fan?" asks Rabbit.

"Fan art is art made in honor of something, Rabbit," The Spine tells him. “It’s a compliment."

"I knew th-th-that."

"So you were just playin’ stupid instead of bein’ stupid?" The Spine is grinning.

"Yeah. Hot dog! Yer m-m-makin’ fan art? Of the Hall of Wires? Why?"

"Rabbit…"

"It’s, um… it’s actually The Spine," I murmur.

Both robots let off extra puffs of steam. The Spine seems rather tickled. Rabbit is definitely mad.

"That’s n-not fair!"

"Yours is next, Rabbit… I promise. Although Hatchy’s might be easier…"

Rabbit is beside himself. “I’m the oldest!"

"And it shows."

"Shut it, Spine!"

I have an idea.

"I thought titanium would be easier to draw than all of those beautiful curlicues, Rabbit," I say soothingly. “I had to practice first."

In the time it takes lightning to kill a solitary cow, Rabbit’s demeanor changes and his face sports a charming smile. “Of c-c-course you did. Some things take time, can’t rush p-perfection."

The Spine rolled his eyes. “Shall we?" he asks, waving me into the Hall.

"Yeah, Spine. The sooner she finishes y-y-y-your picture, the better."

I walk into the Hall of Wires at last.

It’s staggering. Though not as large as the one I have to draw, it’s still awe-inspiringly large. The floor is made up of seemingly random shapes of metal, the edge of each panel rounded and matching perfectly the one next to it, so that you could walk through barefoot and not so much as get a toe stuck between them. Yet as I watch, one section rises smoothly from the floor and opens. A wire snakes out and connects with a panel on the wall, which I see is also a series of interconnecting panels of varying sizes and shapes. Off to one side, there is what looks for all the world like a rec room, its walls lined with narrow paneling. There is a sofa and several video game consoles all neatly arranged and ready for use.

The Spine’s a gamer?

"Smash Brother’s later, Spine?"

"You’re on."

Rabbit’s a gamer?

The famous wires certainly are everywhere. It isn’t easy to walk through without finding the panel beneath your feet rising and falling as the wires go about their mysterious business.

A monitor swings in front of my face. “Directive?" it says in a stentorian monotone.

"Um… art?"

"Classified." It whips away.

"Someone’s been watching ‘Wall-E’ again…" says Rabbit.

The monitor swings back. “Name?"

"Come on, Qwerty…" mutters The Spine.

"Wall-e?"

The monitor freezes. Rabbit taps it.

The Spine sighs and says, “Reboot." The screen flicks off and characters begin to scroll down it.

"Well, has this been any help?" asks The Spine as we hastily retreat before Qwerty comes back online.

"Very much. Now I just have to figure out how to do it justice."

"I’m sure it’ll be great," The Spine says with a grin. We head down the stairs. “It’s an honor to be your subject."

"Sort of."

They both stop.

"S-Sort of?" says Rabbit.

I turn and look up at them. “Yeah… I’m drawing all of you as if you were robot dragons."

Silence.

"Is that not something you’d like?"

The Spine and Rabbit grin identically despite their different metals.

"Are you kidding?" they say as one. They give each other a weird look. The Spine started down the stairs again, Rabbit close behind.

"Heck," Rabbit says as we descend. “I just wish you could _really_ make me into a d-dragon!"

"You already breathe fire, Rabbit…" The Spine says, shaking his head.

"I know, right?"

Hatchworth is sitting on the bottom step, wringing his hands. He jumps up when he hears us coming.

"Why were you so scared?" I ask him.

"The Spine always pounces at me when I come to the door!" he says, looking at the floor. “It startles me."

That’s just adorable. I give him a hug.

"Hey!" cries Rabbit, arms wide. “C’mon! Y’know ya wanna!"

I grin and give him a hug, too. “Scarecrow, I think I’ll miss you most of all!" He giggles.

The Spine smiles as I turn to go. “Send us a copy when it’s done?"

I beam at him and give him his hug. He wasn’t going to say it, but I just had a feeling he was hoping for one.

"Wait!" cries a sweet voice. G.G. trots out of a little elevator and into my arms. “Me, too!"

"You’re the cutest thing!" I say.

Everyone looks at Rabbit. He looks up at nothing in particular and sighs. “Yeah, alright, she is."

And I leave to get back to work.

 


End file.
